Brussels, 08/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - In the context of the forthcoming Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, the Council of Europe, together with the Ministry for Social Affairs for Public Health and the Environment in Belgium, have published a reference guide on human rights and the environment. Messrs. Déjeant-Pons and Marc Pallermaerts "Human and Environmental Rights", Ed. Council of Europe, 2002 - price EUR 35.
The selection of documents by Maguelonne Déjeant-Pons and Marc Pallermaerts includes the global international standards on procedural rights (information access rights, public participation in the decision-making process and access to justice in the environmental field) and the emergence of substantial civil rights law on a quality environment. "In the absence of a law explicitly recognised by the European Convention on Human Rights or the EU's Charter for Fundamental Rights", Magda Aelvoet, Belgian Minister for Consumer Protection at the Public Health and the Environment Department, welcomed the contribution that this guide would make to the "debate on respecting environmental rights".